10 Second Anime - Gamers! - Episode 12 [END]

The Gamers Meet-Up Club goes on an onsen training camp. Season Finale.

DAY 12 - "Gamers and Billing System Talk"

Hmm.

Apparently, last week's episode was the actual season finale and this "Intermission" followed the same structure as Karen's special episode as a standalone OVA. We had a fun bit with the amnesiac Misumi, but the rest of the episode dealt with the gamers trying to justify the expense of their hobby, plus the DLC, to Aguri who asked pointed questions that all gamers have eventually asked themselves.

It looks like this episode takes place at least after Tasuku, Karen, and Chiaki have noticed how well Aguri and Keita get along. There was a no-flirting policy for the trip so as not to make Chiaki feel left out, but with all the other paranoid misunderstandings about who is actually attracted to whom, there was plenty of material to make everyone else feel bad except for Keita.

Heh.

Wait. We could have been watching this totally cliché sci-fi battle story about amnesiac Misumi and his tsundere adoptive shoujo sister this entire time? Yeah, pass.

No flirting! Sure, that'll stop the teenage hormones.

Grinding for leveling up and collecting material is totally fun! Right? Right? Side note: I used to be a gamer, until I took a road bike to the wallet... That's why the name of this blog is gears and grounds (I used to focus on coffee too, but I gave up writing about it). I treat my cycling hobby like an RPG, but the only way to level up is to grind (riding a lot and working for money) and pay real money for armor and weapons upgrades and new gear. No. Grinding is not fun.

Sexy DLC FTW!

I love how the characters look at the little inserts for the conversation instead of a conventional framing. Fun!

Aguri is correct. Games are real shit.

Ah. Now for the OVA portion of the, er, OVA episode. Extra steamy. Buy the Blu-rays... please?

Yes, yes. Aguri called it again. Gamers are masochistic deviants.

Oh. They put the original ending theme back in here. Much better.

Nice. I wondered how they would treat the end card with all the To Be Continued... they had on them. Game Over wouldn't be a very nice way to conclude the show. Stage Clear!! is much better. Although, Game Over might be more appropriate considering how this show went downhill after Keita and Karen's first official date.

Final Thoughts.

Stage Clear!! But will there be a next stage? Doubtful. My main thought for this show is that it wasted its potential.  The first 7 episodes were very tight in ratcheting up the misunderstandings while providing gamer-themed comedy with heart as the narrative focused on Keita. What was important during the first half was that the misunderstandings actually got resolved, to maximum humiliating comedic effect. Comedies are about happy endings, not the Bad End.

Unfortunately, the latter half did not know where to go with the rest of its misunderstandings, pretty much inventing nuances on the old ones to keep them going, or introducing a new character (Chiaki's younger sister Konoha), to ensure Chiaki's secret online identities stayed secret. The problem here was that the focus of the show became how to keep these feelings of jealousy and suspected cheating from being resolved instead of what it started out with. Love, games, and arguing about games.

There were so many other characters to draw into this comedic dynamic that were left behind as the plot focused on the vague misgivings between a group of friends with established couples. Tasuku's pretty friends just disappeared. The Gaming Club, except for Misumi in the final episode, also disappeared. Keita and Tasuku's roles as derpy gamers and social circle straddlers could have provided much more social commentary about mass media, friendships, and perceptions.

But no. We had to keep spinning that misunderstanding wheel until the very end, resurrecting old doubts, inventing new ones, without ever letting the audience have another catharsis after the big huge public confession between Keita and Karen.

Ah well. There were 7 good episodes and the last OVA style episode captured some of that old feeling. Wasted potential, but still fun for the most part.